The Irish standard., 1887-09-17
THE TORIES BEW!lDERED.
Irish Speakers in Great Demand
in English Constitu-
encies.
MESMERIC JOHN 0'C0NN0R
How Long John" Wins Over Doubling
Audiences is g Secret Only
Known to Himself,

! The Tories are simply dazed! Worse
even for them than Northwich itself
was it to see the victorious candidate
! led up the to table by an Irish member.
For the .Dissentients the spectacle WAS,
il possible, still bitterer; for it gave an
answer to the inso}ent complaint that
they could not return to the Liberal
party while Mr.. Gladstone preferred
the Parnellite alliance to theirs. Ger
tainly giant John O'Connor made an
admiral tanker by the side of Mt.
B1unner, and, apart from the general
significance of the march past, it was a
worthy compliment to pay him; for to
men like himself is due much OF the
success Of recent elections. It seems
that after the Spaulding victory the
new member, Mr.. HALEY Stewart,
wished to emphasize the hand shake Of
the two democracies by having al Irish
introducer along with his party whip
on being sworn. But etiquette was
then too strong; there were the usual
official demurrers; the thing was unpre-
cedented, and so it was abandoned.
The winner of Northwich, howe ger,
would not be gainsaid. IT the Liberal
whips objected to usage being departed
from to celebrate such all occasion:
then it was not one but two Irish mem
bers he would invite to escort him to
the table. So, when Mr.. Drummer
wired up his wishes, official decorum
disappeared. Hard as many Of the Irish
party have been working in the con-
stituencies doing service that can never
be properly estimated, there is no one
whom his colleagues could he better
pleased to see figuring in that triumph
al march than john O'Connor. How
''Long .John'' wins over doubling aud
fences is a secret only known to him
self The musical Munster tongue
must have something to do with it. In
the accents OF what they call in Cork
'tThe P'rade'' rolls a voice as soft as if
it was sweethearting, and the manner
surely, as we'll as the matter Of the man,
is great persuader. A colleague over
heard a Tory, who has been campaign
Ing against him in Spaulding, tell one OF
his chums: s'There was Long John
O'Connor. there, don't you know; why,
he made the rustics Weep" Barring
the sneer, the testimony was welcome;
and 50 the meeting after meeting goes
Long John O'Connor, with his terrible
inches and his mellow tones, carrying
all before him by all accounts. Peer Of
him alone is William Abraham, who
has similar knack OF persuasion, and
does the work of a dozen on the stump.
Strange are fortunes of politics. AS if
with a magician's wand, the hearts of
hostile masses were laid open by Glad
stone to the pleadings of men against
whom but so lately they were sealed.
How long is it since if an Irish mem
ber ventured to intrude his counsels
upon an English meeting it might have
turned and rent him? Timidly at first,
when the Home Rule Bill was intro
duced, the idea Of Irish speakers at
British demonstrations was talked
about. Hotter grew the fight while the
debates on the Bill proceeded, and the
experiment was ventured Oh. One OF
two ''prudent" men were to be sent
down to test matters; but suddenly the
general election burst upon the doubt
ers, anG rom North, South, East and
West came invitations, petitions, and
demands for Irish speakers to explain
their country's case in their own way.
The barriers were burst, and now there
is no such welcome as is given to the
blackavized villains Of ''Parnellism and
Crime" Nor were the most success
full nlissioners exactly the men who
might have been picked out before
hand on the prudent speakers princi-
pie. Many member who is absolute
ly unfamiliar to his colleagues as de-
batter in the House has made the most
attractive speaker on scores Of English
platforms; and the work such men have
done and are doing in the field often
remains not only unacknowledged at
home, but is frequently unknown even
to their fellow-members Labor OF
this kind, at time when it looks as il
little need be done except to cut chan
nels to quicken the thrush of "the flow
$40. +;do ;, hoo uo1,,n often far HIGHER
than even the best work in the House
itself. So the Irish agency bureau OF
Messrs. Clancy and Carew is now the
standing ally of Mr.. Schnadhoret's
Central Liberal Association, and it's
quiyer of arrows can never be full
enough for the demands made upon it.
The above is from the pen Of I. M.
Healy, N. p, and first appeared in the
Dublin Nation. Itillustrates very forci-l